Declassified: Nixon Feared Israel Nukes Would Spur Arms Race

(Richard Nixon. AP Archives)

“Israel’s alleged possession of nuclear weapons and its potential to set off an arms race in the Middle East were a source of concern to the Nixon administration in 1969, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing newly released documents.

“The Israelis, who are one of the few peoples whose survival is genuinely threatened, are probably more likely than almost any other country to actually use their nuclear weapons,” Henry Kissinger, who served as President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser, warned in a July 19, 1969 memorandum.

The U.S. National Archives on Wednesday released documents from the Nixon Presidential Library, according to the Times report. By law, classified documents are to be reviewed for possible release after 25 years.

The memoranda reveal the dilemmas with which the administration wrestled vis-a-vis Israel’s nuclear weapons program, long considered to be a sore point in the U.S.-Israel alliance…Click for Full Article“